Spooky

Around this time of year things can get spooky.

In the past we have ignored it, but after a freaky day it was only right to join with friends to celebrate and embrace scary things.

After all the best treats in life are often tricky to realise.

Thank you to our dear friends for all your help and support.

Pasta

Little Miss loves pasta.

If I ask her what she wants for lunch, she always replies, "Pasta." If we go out to a cafe for dinner Little Miss will always order pasta and eat it all up. She really really loves the stuff.

And what's not to love. Pasta is a very versatile food. I have given her uncooked pasta to play with in her toy kitchen. Turns out she likes to eat that too, crunchy though it is. 

Penne pasta is her firm favourite, not only is it great for stirring around in a cooking pot, hear it clink about, but you can put your finger inside when its a nicely cooked soft tube. Plus as a bonus you can make a pasta necklace with penne as well.

Find out other ways to play and learn at childhood 101.

I love it when...

Little Miss and B show love to each other.

It might be a morning cuddle, a happy greeting hug after school, a thoughtful gesture or simple hand holding. It really touches me that they care deeply for each other. 

Their relationship is constantly going to change as they grow up, I can only hope that these days of taking delight in each other lay a strong foundation for the future. Whatever happens in their relationship, at least  they will always have their parents in common.

Lipgloss

At a recent school fete B very kindly bought Little Miss a roll on lip gloss. She really really loves it, and is constantly rolling it on.

And she does a really thorough job.

Maybe because its runny like paint or because its container is roll on, she had the idea to draw with it. I fought my instinct to say "No" and went with it...

I love how the paper went translucent and you can see type through the page. I was also impressed with her zig zag drawing, showing great control.

 With one painting finished it was time to put on more lip gloss.

 

Then she kissed the page

To make lovely lip prints, and signed the work off with the letter 'L'.

But that wasn't all, she then made it into a paper fan.

I love this little girly girl so so very much.

Visit here for other play ideas.

Monsters

Inspired by these library books, which we had to read and reread again and again

We got to making some monsters from our crafty box

The great thing about monsters is that they are whatever you want them to be...


Doilies, pink tissue and purple paper got Little Miss thinking.

And brown paper bags and satay sticks inspired B.

Amazing monsters!

Find out what other kids are playing with at Childhood 101.

For Sale

We are selling up and moving on. It's time for change. Our home for the last 12 years has been polished, painted and styled so that it looks amazing, but is not really our comfortable lived-in home anymore. It's a show home out on display and ready for sale. Toys and kids stuff are not in every room, the junk and dross of life is gone, no tea towels, no files of paper, no dirty dishes, no lego under the couch, no shampoo bottles, no crumbs on the counter, little hand prints are removed from the windows, each and every room is sparse and clean. And until its sold, that's the way it has to stay.

Needless to say living in a home on sale with two small children has its challenges. I have caught myself saying,
"Dont touch the walls, eat over your plate, don't use the white towels, get your hands off the window."

Despite their mother turning into a cleaning machine B and Little Miss have been fantastic. They love the idea of moving, and they are most adaptable. They particularly loved the idea of moving into a house with other kids toys in it. I had to explain we didn't leave our stuff behind and neither did the people in the other house. A conversation about house fittings soon deteriorated though as I couldn't explain to B why the dishwasher stayed, but the fridge comes...


Why would we do all this? When we bought our inner city house we were a couple, as we are now a family, our little plot on inner city land is just too small. We have made do as best we can, a sandpit and water feature have been great entertainment. A gravel driveway has been paved for ball games and bikes, we have even put in tiny areas of imitation lawn to keep little toes happy, but there comes a time when you have to face facts. As much as we love this house and its location, we are all longing for more space. A real garden that we can grow vegetables in, space for a trampoline, or even a pool, trees to climb, a real lawn to run on. Our new house has all of this and much much more.

Exciting times are ahead...